Chapter 16 #2
I whirl back around, yanking my arm free. The robe hangs open at his chest, revealing the marks my nails left during my Heat. The sight of them twists in my gut, proving I still have more to break.
“Talk like adults?” My laugh sounds brittle to my own ears. “What’s the point? You’ve made yourself perfectly clear. You don’t want me.”
Confusion draws Aaiden’s brows together. “How can you possibly think that after what we just shared?”
“What we shared?” I scoff as, behind Aaiden, the family forms a loose semicircle, witnessing my humiliation. “We shared my Heat, Aaiden. And nothing more, apparently.”
“That’s not true.” The muscle jumps in his jaw as he clenches his teeth. “You know that’s not true.”
The words I’ve been holding back burst free. “You had three days, and you intentionally chose not to claim me. Is that a lie?”
A ripple moves through the gathered family members. Someone sucks in a sharp breath. From the corner of my eye, I see Oliver’s hand fly to his mating mark, Caleb stepping closer to his Omega in response.
“It wasn’t that simple—”
“You’re still holding back,” I snap, cutting through everything he’s trying to say.
Aaiden goes still. “Jade—”
“You said you wouldn’t hold back. That once you started, you wouldn’t stop.” I shake my head, stepping back from him. “But you did. You stopped short of the one thing that actually mattered.”
“That’s not what happened,” he says, struggling to remain calm in front of his family. “I won’t bind you to me when you can’t choose it with a clear head. There are considerations—”
“I’ve been chasing you for years!” I cut him off, my vision blurring with tears I refuse to shed. “Don’t pretend this was about protecting me.”
His eyes flash. “You agreed to obey me.”
For a second, disbelief fills me as I struggle to process how the hell he thought that applied here.
“Are you serious right now?” I hiss, deadly quiet. “That’s what you’re going with?”
He steps closer. “You agreed to let me take care of you.”
“No.” I cut him off hard, backing away again. “No, this has nothing to do with it.”
His brows draw together. “Jade—”
“That was about sex.” My chest heaves as I jab a finger toward him. “It was about control in the bedroom, about trusting you there.” I shake my head again, anger spiking hotter. “You don’t get to use it to justify not choosing me out here.”
“That’s not what I’m doing.” Pain flashes. “Jade—”
“Your invitation to your bed was just another step in ‘healing’ me, wasn’t it?” The realization burns like acid. “Another way to fix the broken Omega. Not claiming me. Not loving me. Just fixing me.”
Aaiden pales, and he reaches for me. “That’s not what it was.”
I jerk back, putting distance between us. “Then what was it? Because I’m not interested in your pity or your therapy. I’m worth more than your scraps, Aaiden. I always have been.”
His hand reaches for me again, desperation replacing the controlled mask he always wears. “Please, listen—”
Before his fingers can touch me, another hand intercepts, gripping Aaiden’s wrist with enough force to stop him. Caleb stands between us, staring down his cousin.
“He’s made it clear he doesn’t want you to touch him,” Caleb says with deadly calm.
Aaiden’s nostrils flare. “This doesn’t concern you.”
“When an Omega in this family is in distress, we protect them.” Caleb doesn’t release his grip. “Even from you, Aaiden.”
Movement flickers at the edges of my vision as Milo and Oliver slide forward, their slender bodies forming a barrier between Aaiden and me. Neither speaks, but their message is clear. They stand with me.
Saint materializes at my side, arms crossed over his muscular chest, a silent wall of protection beside me. “You need to back off. Jade needs some space.”
Aaiden strains to look past the barrier of bodies, disbelief written across his features. “You’re turning my family against me?”
“They’re making their own choices.” My chin lifts. “Just as you made yours.”
For a moment, no one moves. The tension in the air thickens, Alpha pheromones clashing as Aaiden faces the wall of family members protecting me. His green eyes never leave mine, searching for a forgiveness I can’t keep giving him.
“Move aside,” he orders.
Sebastian steps forward, taking up position beside Caleb. “Not this time, brother.”
Nolan joins them. “Let him go, Aaiden.”
Liam places a hand on Aaiden’s shoulder from behind. “This isn’t the way.”
Surrounded by his brothers and cousins, Aaiden stands frozen, his robe hanging open, his control slipping for perhaps the first time in his life. The sight should bring me satisfaction, but I feel nothing but pain.
I turn away from him and start down the stairs, each step carrying me further from the future I thought we might have.
“You could be pregnant!” Aaiden’s shout booms down the staircase, the words striking like a physical blow between my shoulder blades.
My steps falter on the stairs, a hard ball of ice forming in my stomach even as my blood boils with fresh fury.
I turn slowly, my knuckles white as I grip the banister. Aaiden has escaped his brother and cousins to chase after me, his robe now belted properly, desperation breaking through his control in a way I’ve never seen before.
“Is that your plan?” The question comes out steady despite the tremor in my limbs. “You want to trap me with a child?”
Aaiden takes a step down, his hands spread in supplication. “That’s not what I meant.”
“Then what did you mean?” The question cuts through the silence. “That I should stay because I might be carrying your heir? Do you think a possible child gives you rights over me that you weren’t willing to claim with an official Mark?”
He pales. “Jade, please, just let me explain—”
“What would you do if I am pregnant, Aaiden?” The words are bitter on my tongue. “Find yourself a suitable mate while I raise your child on the side? Keep me close but not too close?”
Aaiden descends another step. “That’s not fair.”
“No, it’s not.” My hand drops to my still-flat stomach, the possibility of new life there both terrifying and irrelevant to my decision. “But neither is using a potential child as a leash to keep me here.”
His hands ball into fists. “I’m just asking you to think about what you’re doing.”
“I’ve thought about nothing else for years.” Each word falls heavily between us. “But that’s not your concern anymore. And neither am I.”
I turn and continue toward the ground floor, tugging on my shirt with one hand as I struggle not to drop my shoes.
At the bottom of the stairs, my mother waits, worry bracketing her lips and her fingers twisting a dish towel. She must have heard the commotion from the kitchen and rushed out to find the source of the disturbance.
For once, I don’t wait for her to reach out first. I step forward and pull her into my arms, feeling her small frame tremble. Her familiar scent of fresh bread and laundry soap fills my lungs, a childhood comfort I’ve denied myself for too long.
“I have to go,” I murmur into her hair.
Her arms tighten around me. “I understand, baby.”
I brush a kiss to her cheek, tasting salt from the tears slipping free. “I’ll contact you once I’m settled. I promise.”
She nods against my shoulder, unable to speak. When she pulls back, she cups my cheeks in her hands, memorizing me before she steps aside to let me pass.
The massive front door of Rockford Manor stands before me, polished wood and ornate handles marking the boundary between safety and the outside world for as long as I can remember. I grasp the handle and pull, letting in a rush of morning air, heavy with the promise of rain.
As I step out, a black car pulls into the circular drive, tires crunching on gravel, and I’m grateful the guards let him past the front gate to spare me the long trek to the road.
I descend the wide stone steps, while behind me, voices rise in argument.
“Jade, stop.”
The Alpha Command rings through my bones, freezing my feet to the bottom step.
The driver’s side door of the black car swings open, and a figure emerges, lean and dangerous, moving with fluid grace around the hood of the car. Avery Moore’s ash-blond hair catches the morning light as he steps into view, his hand steady as he raises a gun and points it at Aaiden.
“I killed my own mate,” Avery says, the warning carrying across the distance. “Don’t think I won’t shoot you, Aaiden Rockford.”
Behind me, multiple footsteps sound on the stones outside the front door as family members spill out to witness this spectacular disaster.
“Put the gun down, Avery.” Aaiden remains calm despite the weapon aimed at his heart. “This is between Jade and me.”
“He called me for help.” Avery doesn’t lower the gun. “Which makes it my business.”
I remain frozen, but not because I have to. Aaiden Commanded me to stop, and I did. But he never Commanded me to stay. Never told me to return to him.
Just to stop.
If he wanted me to stay, if he believed I belonged with him, he would have Commanded it.
Even now, with me on the verge of walking away forever, he’s still holding back.
With a deep breath, I take the last step onto the driveway.
Avery’s gun never wavers from its target. “Get in the car, Jade.”
I pull open the passenger door.
“Jade, please.” Aaiden’s voice holds no Command now, just raw pain. “Don’t do this.”
My hand tightens on the car door as I turn back one last time. He stands at the top of the steps, surrounded by family, yet utterly alone.
“Goodbye, Aaiden,” I say, and toss my phone onto the steps before sliding into the passenger seat and closing the door behind me.